Site Experience Issues

[Gene]

I have had probably close to a dozen reports this year from Members having issues with the site - can't see another member's photos, can't see the comment box/button, can't send emails, etc.  I have raised a handful of these with Ning, the company that built and maintains the site for us.  Every time, without fail, the fix according to Ning is to use a newer browser AND/OR a different (not Internet Explorer) browser.

 

While the web or Internet's original philosophy was more forgiving as far as which browsers would render pages, there are more and more capabilities being delivered within the browser.  This is great for the most part but it is not always great for all browsers unless a lot of care is taken during development and there is extensive cross-browser testing (to make sure the site works well on all browsers).  It seems like the broader web site developer community (not just with Ning but in general) has a strong preference for either Firefox or Chrome over say Internet Explorer. Market share stats for browser usage seem to support this as well.

 

While I know you shouldn't have to switch browsers to use an Internet site and I have nothing personal against IE 6, if you are experiencing weird behavior on the site, you might want to try another browser or upgrade your existing one to a newer version (the latter is smart from a security standpoint).  If you should experience an issue in either Firefox or Chrome, please send me details, preferably with a screen shot, and I will send it into Ning.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Thanks,

 

Gene

[Karen McKelvey]

Me too but this has only happened recently and I had problems with my computer so was blaming that. Please put sorting back to original

[David McIlveen Wright]

Yes, I have the same thing - it switched from 'most recent' to 'first' a couple of weeks ago. I always use Firefox or Chrome.

The problem with IE6 and other builds of IE is due to Microsoft being unwilling to comply with browser standards. They make IE the default browser for Windows, and even insisted some time ago that it was an integral part of Windows. They lost at court with that one. Because they had the largest market share at that time, they forced web designers to make their websites comply with IE, as well as with web standards. Web designers had to employ lots of tricks to make a website comply with the different versions of IE. IE6 was the worst, it broke so many of these standards. Now that it is effectively obsolete, many designers no longer include these tricks, so if you are using an old browser, you might not see websites as they are intended.

[Finding_Beau]

Hi Gene

I thought I'd send you a positive comment and thank you for all your hard work in setting up this site which has been my most enjoyable internet experience. If I thought about it, probably my only one. I wish I had more time to participate.

Best wishes from Susan and her English Setter kids

[Gene]

Thanks Susan.  Really no work on my part but glad that you like it.

[Gene]

Quick update - I heard from Ning and the comment sort order is a bug that they are fixing.  Not sure when it will be resolved but it is going back to the way it was, per Ning.  FYI